Knockdown crate.



J. LIMONCELLU.

KNOCKDOWN CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 11, I916.

Patented May 8, 1917.

mzsma 2 SHEETSSHE I.

a a a 6 6 6 m JOSEPH LIIVIONCELLO, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

KNOCKIDOWN CRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May S, 1917.

Application filed August 17, 1916. Serial No. 115,365.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH LIMONCELLO, a subject of the King of Italy, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inKnockdown Crates, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in knock-down crates, open drums or barrels, and has particular reference to containers of this character especially adaptable for shipping bananas, other fruits, vegetables and the like. I

The object of my invention is to provide a crate which can bemade atlow cost of construction; which can be packed in knockdown condition, thus occupying a minimum of space for storage or for shipping; which can be readily and quickly set up for use by unskilled labor, and which may, after being used, again be knocked-down for re-shipment to be again used.

My invention concerns more specifically the means employed for interlocking the terminal ends of the top and bottom hoops; the means afforded for securing the heads in place in knock-down and set-up condition, and other features of construction more minutely hereinafter pointed out.

In. the drawings;

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a crate set up and ready to receive the contents to be shipped therein;

- Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the crate, with the heads removed;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the crate knockeddown ready to be stacked with others of like character, in relatively small dimensions for re-shipment or for storage.

Fig. 4 is a section taken through one vertical wall and the upper head of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the bottom end.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan showing the manner of attaching the inner lining of the crate, when a lining is to be used.

Fig. 7. isv a section taken on line 77 of Fig. 6.

In all of the views the same reference characters are employed to indicate similar parts.

The structure which 1 am herein seeking to patent is anopen drum or grate, adapt; able for shipping bananas or other fruits or vegetables. The vertical walls of the con" tainer are made of a series of spaced-apart slats or staves 10, preferably of thin inexpensive wood, or other suitable material, being held together at their respective ends by thinflexible wooden hoops 1111 positioned outside the staves at their upper and lower ends respectively. Inside the staves and opposite the wooden hoops I have provided wire reinforcing hoops or rings 121 Staples 13 are driven over the wire hoops through the slats 10 into the flat hoops and clenched on the outer side as at 14, as more clearly shown in Fig. 7. The wire hoop 12, at the upper end of the structure is located a slight distance below the upper edges of the slats 10, substantially equal to the thickness of head 15, so that when the head is placed in position in the walls formed by the slats it will rest upon the wire hoop 12. To reinforce the upper wire 12 I nail small wooden cleats 16 to selected slats immediately under the wire, so that downward pressure upon the head 15 is carried by both the wire fasteners and the cleats. As the lower head 15 of the structure rests above the wire at its lower end, cleats 16 are placed below the wire hoop 12 on certain selected slats for the purpose of reinforcing or strengthening the head holdlng means. 7

WVhen a lining, such as is indicated at 18, is employed, the upper and lower ends are secured by placing the same between the staves and wire hoops, the staples 13 passing through the lining and fastening it in place. The 'lining 18 may be composed of tough fibrous material, such paper or the like, and is placed in position and'held as above described at the time when the structure is being made or the parts fastened together and therefore becomes an inseparable part of the structure.

Wires 19 and 20 are placed across the series of slats 10, at uniform distances between the hoops 11 and 11 and are securedthereto bystaples. 21 and 21. The wire hoops 12 and 12 are each bent at their ends into hooks 19. and 12, sothat when the barrel bent back, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby proor crate is formed into a cylinder, shown in Fig. 2, the hooks 12 and 12 are caused to engage to hold the structure in cylindrical shape. The ends 1.2 and 12 of the wires 12 and 12 are passed through openings 23 and 23, made through the hoops between the adjacent slats near the ends where the structure is held together by the hooks 12 and 12". After passing through the holes or openings 23 and 23, they are secured on the outside of the structure, by staples 24, 24;. The terminal slats are within the terminal ends 12, 12 of. the wire hoops.

The heads 15 and 15 are secured in posi tion by cross wires 25 and 26, 25 and 26 respectively. These wires are secured thereto by means of staples 27 that pass through the heads. The wires on the upper and lower heads are provided with ends 28, 28, respectively that extend beyond the heads to form fasteners. Three staples 29, 30 and 31 and a similar set of three staples of which only 29 and 31 are visible in the drawing are driven part-way through the hoops 11, and 11 respectively and through the staves or slats 10 and serve as means for holding the ends 28, 28 of the cross wires when the heads 15 and 15 are in place. In packing the structure for shipment, as shown in Fig. 8, the head 15 is placed thereon in the position shown with the head 15 placed therebelow. The wire ends 28, 28 of each of the heads, pass through oppositely positioned staples on the outside of each end of the structure'resped tively and are secured thereto by being bent into eyes or loops.

To set up the structure ready for use it is only necessary to bend the slats with the attached hoops, into cylindrical form until the hooks 12 and 12 on the ends of the wire hoops 1212" engage, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be observed that the ends 11 of the flat hoops 11 and 11, overlap the ends 11*, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2 for the purpose of reinforcing the structure at the juncture. After the heads are placed in position, resting on the hoops 1212 the wire ends 2828 registering with the outer staples are bent over the edges of the crate and pass through the staples and then bent outwardly as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5 to lock the heads in position. The remaining wire ends are bent over the edges of the crate and fastened to the, wire hoops adjacent the points where their ends are hooped together. a

The wire hoops 19 and 20 are each provided on one end with eyes 19 and 20 re-. spectively. The free ends of thewires 19 and 20 are passed through'these eyes and vidin hoops for strengthening the central portion of the structur I In the particular embodiment illustrated,

I have shown the crate, or barrel provided with a larger upper end which is the usual form of a banana crate, but it is evident that the structure may be made of uniform diameter as in open drums or barrels for the shipment of fruit or vegetables and it is further manifest that a lining 18 may be employed when required and secured and placed in the structure in the manner heretofore described. f

' Having now described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1s 1. A knock-down structure of the charac 1 ter described comprising a series of spaced apart slats or staves; fiat hoops crossing the 7 apart slats or staves; fiat hoops crossing the outside surfaces of said slats near their repective ends; wire hoops, secured to the inside surfaces of said slats within the diametric plane in which said fiat hoops are located, when the structure is assembled;

fastening devices passing over said wirev hoops through the slats and through the fiat hoops, clenched on the outside thereof and heads resting on the inner wire hoops; hooks on the ends of the Wire hoops to hold the structure in cylindrical shape and crossing wires for fastening the heads in place, crossing the outside surfaces of the heads, having their ends secured in staples driven into the outside of the assembled structure.

' 3. In a structure of the character described the combination of a series of spacedapart slats or staves; fiat flexible hoops extending around the outside near the ends thereof and lapped at their meeting ends; a wire hoop at eachend, inside the structure when set up, each hoop having hooks at each of its ends, located on the outside of the structure, overlying the over lapped ends of the flat hoops when the structure is set up for separable engagement and cleats secured to selected slats below said wire'hoops to support the heads to be inclosed therein, and a head overlying each wire hoop,

4. In a structure of the character described the combination of a seriesflof spaced-apart slats or staves; flat flexible hoops extending around the assembled slats I 7 near their ends, connected thereto and having over-lapped ends and wire hoops on the In testimony whereof I hereunto set my inside of the structure under sald flat hoops, hand in the presence of two subscriblng the ends whereof are provided wlth sepawitnesses.

rable hooks located outside of said struc- JOSEPH LIMONCELLO. tnre, said wire hoops extending through the Witnesses:

structure so as to include a plurality of slats FORI IE BAIN,

between the outwardly projecting ends. STANLEY C. COOK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

